Statistically, the EA Sports best performing players in the English Premier League so far this season!

The EA SPORTS PPI (Player Performance Index) is the only official player rating index of the Barclays Premier League which measures a player's all round contribution to the success of his team using six key indices:

The intention is to remove any opinion bias and only work with proven statistical measurements which become more accurate as the season progresses.

Season 2015/16 - Last update: 09/11/15

For those of you currently playing 'Fantasy Premier League Football' you may want to take note!


Goalkeepers:

1. Petr Cech (Arsenal) 162 EA Sports PPI
2. Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester) 152
3. Jack Butland (Stoke City) 136
4. Tim Howard (Everton) 133
5. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham) 130 (right)
6. Joe Hart (Man City) 129
7. Heurelho Gomes (Watford) 121
8. Boaz Myhill (West Brom) 114
9. Simon Mignolet (Liverpool) 112
10. Lukasz Fabianski (Swansea) 110


Defenders:

1. Scott Dann (Crystal Palace) 202 (below right)
2. Aleksandar Kolarov (Man City) 196
3. Nacho Monreal (Arsenal) 191
4. Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham) 189
5. Eric Dier (Tottenham) 185
6. Laurent Koscielny 175
6. Bacary Sagna (Man City) 175
8. Aaron Cresswell (West Ham) 174
9. Jose Fonte (Southampton) 161
10. Ashley Williams (Swansea) 160


Midfielders:

1. Riyad Mahrez (Leicester) 332
2. Dimitri Payet (West Ham) 292
3. Mesut Özil (Arsenal) 268
4. Georginio Wijnaldum (Newcastle) 255
5. Ross Barkley (Everton) 250
6. Sadio Mané (Southampton) 229
7. Dusan Tadic (Southampton) 228
8. Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool) 227
9. Juan Mata (Manchester Utd) 222
10. Santiago Cazorla (Arsenal) 218


Forwards:

1. Jamie Vardy (Leicester) 375 (right)
2. Romelu Lukaku (Everton) 302
3. Harry Kane (Tottenham) 288
4. Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal) 283
5. Odion Ighalo (Watford) 223
6. Raheem Sterling (Man City) 211
7. Sergio Agüero (Man City) 202
8. Graziano Pellè (Southampton) 193
9. Arouna Koné (Everton) 190
10. Olivier Giroud (Arsenal) 187


The Six Key Indices:

1. Winning Performance

Players receive points for time on the pitch in a successful team. Players will receive more points if they play the full 90 minutes in a winning team. This index shares league points won by a team between the players according to the minutes they are on the pitch. Only time on the pitch and points scored are taken into account in this first index.

2. Player's Performance per match

Players receive points for positive influences on a winning performance (shots on target, tackles, clearances, saves etc). Players have points taken away from their score for negative actions such as shots off target and receiving yellow and/or red cards.

3. Appearances

Players receive points for minutes on the pitch. The number of points won by ALL teams in the Barclays Premier League are divided among the players according to the number of minutes they have played. This does not take into account the result of a match, it awards points purely for playing time.

4. Goals scored

Players are awarded points for scoring goals. These points are only given to the goalscorer.

5. Assists

Players are awarded points for assists. These points are only awarded to players that make the assist.
Assists are awarded to the player from the goal scoring team who makes the last touch before the goal is scored.
If after this touch, an opposing player touches the ball outside the penalty area altering the intended destination of the ball, then no assist is given, except if this intervention directly results in an own goal.
In the event of a penalty or free-kick, the player earning the penalty or free-kick gets an assist if a goal is directly scored, but not if he takes it himself, in which case no assist is given.

6. Clean sheets

Allocates points for clean sheets to the whole team. The proportionate split of the points is weighted according to the player's position. Therefore a goalkeeper will be awarded a greater proportion of the points for keeping a clean sheet than a striker. The points are also awarded proportionately to the time spent on the pitch.


N.B. The overall EA SPORTS PPI is a correlation between all of the above indices. The Index only includes actions that can be measured objectively and does not reward one action more than another (e.g. a pass by a midfielder will not gain more points than a tackle made by a defender). Subjective factors relating to individual players' skill levels or evidence of a specific flair, such as a particularly spectacular pass or goal, are not included within the index.

All the very latest transfer gossip across Europe!

Here is all today's latest football news and transfer gossip with Diego Costa, Gonzalo Higuain, Liverpool, Barcelona, Riyad Mahrez, Corinthians, Charlie Austin, Andy Carroll, Tottenham, Juventus, Marco Reus, Southampton, Napoli, Javier Hernandez, Manchester United and Arsenal all in the news! 

Here is a round up of all the latest transfer gossip across Europe today!

Is your club involved?

Chelsea, Napoli, Manchester Utd Ajax, Leicester, Lazio, Southampton, Newcastle, Tottenham, West Ham, Bournemouth, QPR, Borussia Dortmund, Corithians, Liverpool, Barcelona, Porto, Bayern Leverkusen, AS Roma, Udinese, Inter Milan, Valencia, Juventus, Galatasaray, Arsenal, Nordsjaelland, Sunderland, Olypiakos, Fulham, Hull, Brighton, Portsmouth and Accrington Stanley..........are all caught up in the latest transfer news/rumours across Europe, as we speak.

Chelsea are considering a summer move for Napoli and Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain, putting the future of current Blues forward Diego Costa, also 27, in doubt - Daily Mirror

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal wants a winger, and is interested in Lazio's Felipe Anderson, 22, Sadio Mane, 23, at Southampton, 24-year-old Riyad Mahrez at Leicester and Anwar El Ghazi, 20, of Ajax - Daily Mail

Newcastle want to bring back West Ham striker Andy Carroll, 26, to help their relegation battle - Daily Mirror and The Sun

Manchester United and Tottenham want to sign Newcastle United striker Ayoze Perez, 22, and could bid for the Spaniard in January - Daily Telegraph and Daily Star

Bournemouth are plotting January raid for QPR striker Charlie Austin after confirming an American billionaire has bought a 25 per cent stake in the club. Sunderland are also keen on the 26 year-old  - Daily Star and Daily Mail

Liverpool are the hot favourites to sign Borussia Dortmund star Marco Reus - Daily Express

Liverpool will sign former AC Milan striker Alexandre Pato, 26, in January, according to the president of his current club Corinthians - Tutto Mercato Web (Italian football news outlet) via The Independent

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has asked the club's transfer committee to make a formal approach for Barcelona winger Cristian Tello, 24, who is on loan at Porto - Fichajes (Spanish football news outlet) via Daily Star

Chelsea are looking at Javier Hernandez, who moved to Bayern Leverkusen in the summer and Valencia's Spanish international striker Paco Alcacer as possible transfer targets - ESPN

Southampton face a battle to keep star striker Graziano Pelle, who is wanted by Italian giants Juventus - Daily Mirror

Galatasaray are keen on signing Arsenal winger Joel Campbell in January - Daily Express

Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United are among clubs monitoring the progress of the Denmark Under-19s striker Emre Mor who is expected to leave Danish Superliga club Nordsjaelland in January - The Guardian

AS Roma are searching for a new defender and coach Rudi Garcia is keeping tabs on two Inter Milan players in Juan Jesus and Andrea Ranocchia. It is also thought that he keen on Udinese defender Thomas Heurtaux - Sportmediaset (Italian sports news outlet)

Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce has been given the go-ahead to sign two defenders to help his side in their battle against relegation, with West Ham's James Collins, 32, and French left-back Arthur Masuakyu, 22, who is at Olympiakos high on his wanted list - Daily Express and Sunderland Echo

Arsenal lead the transfer chase for Dean Windass' 21 year-old Accrington Stanley starlet Josh Windass, with Brighton, Fulham, Hull and Portsmouth also tracking the son of former Hull forward Dean - The Sun and Daily Mirror

Babe of the Month - TV Presenter Laura Esposto

Laura Esposto was born on 8th August 1978 in Bologna, Italy and works as a sports television presenter.

Formerly a volleyball player and model, Laura moved from Bologna to Milan in 2001 and started working for 'Milan Channel' (AC Milan’s official network). 
Laura says she was in the right place at the right time when she met someone who worked for the Milan Channel. 

The television company were looking for a new girl to work on their programmes. Laura was working as a model then, but they asked her if she'd like to do something in television, and she was keen to get some experience in something different. Laura started off as a reporter for a reality programme. Then they asked her if she'd like to be involved in football and she agreed. Being a huge football fan - it was her ideal job!

In 2007 Channel Five in the United Kingdom gained the rights to broadcast Serie A highlights and live games during the 2007–08 season.
The people at Channel Five in the United Kingdom were looking for an Italian girl to present this Italian football show, who could speak perfect English, and knew what they were talking about when it came to football. They saw Laura on the Milan Channel, & offered her a co-presenting role on the show.


Laura took the chance as she thought it would be a great chance to do something new, and in 2007 she moved to England to co-present 'Football Italiano' alongside Mark Chapman on Channel Five Television. The show thus returned to terrestrial television and live games were shown weekly at 1:30pm UK time on Sundays, as the original series on Channel Four.

However Channel Five didn’t buy the rights to Italian football after 2008, so Laura moved back to Italy and has worked on Sky Sport (Italy) since September 2009.

Since 2011 she has been the Presenter of  'Studio1Stadio' - a weekly Football Magazine about Serie A on DigitalTv.

Laura continues to work with Milan Channel and was also involved with the Italian candidacy in May 2010 to host the UEFA 2016 European Championships, which was held in Geneva.

You can follow Laura on: Facebook and on her Official Website